The Clues
by Missplayer30
Summary: After getting framed, Espio is forced to run away from his hometown and start a new life in an impoverished city with the only clues he could gather from the crime scene. However, while he's in there, resolving his own case, he also has to deal with the "fearsome gang leader", who is said to terrorize the town and its inhabitants. {Vecpio}
1. Chapter 1

**Finally, after a while, I decided to post my fanfic in Fanfiction, which was already on DA not long ago. I'm still confused over which rating I should give to it, due to the nature of the fanfic as well as some graphic scenes. Of course, the fanfic isn't heavily focused on extremely graphic sexual themes. It's pretty tame that it warrants a T rating if it weren't for those scenes. I could cut those scenes and let the mature stuffs on DA, but I also wanted to show it in its full glory.**

 **Anyway, this is intended to be a "non-conventional" Vecpio story (An edgy fic, but not in the way you think). It's an AU story where Espio meets Vector for the first time and they hate each other at first. However, I fear I may wrote the characters OOC in the process.**

 **The picture cover belongs to** **daQUIET-1** **, which was one of my main inspirations for this fic (The picture of course).**

* * *

"So, tell me: why are you here again?"

It was a nice and sunny day in the middle of nowhere. Nothing special happened here, except a yellow car rolling by a long barren road. Looking closer to it, the car was in fact a cab. Inside, a driver was taking the wheel while talking to his passenger, who was sitting in the backseat. He was a teenaged chameleon whose anxious expression was glued on his face while he looked down his purple and black shoes.

"Excuse me, are you going to answer to me?" the driver asked once again, getting a bit impatient.

"Huh, what?!"

The chameleon finally snapped out of his thought, his attention was now toward the driver.

"Why were you quitting your hometown in the first place?"

He sighed before he answered, albeit reluctantly.

"I... It's a long story. I'd rather not share this to anyone."

"I don't see why you make it sounds like a big deal. Just tell it to me, your secret is safe, I promise."

The passenger doubted about that statement. He didn't know what the driver looked like, nor did he know whether he was telling the truth or not. That mysterious driver gave him the impression that his identity was shrouded by the shadow despite the sunny day outside, only his gloved hands holding the steering wheel were actually shown in the light. It doesn't help that he spoke with a grave baritone voice.

"What's the matter? Scared?"

"NO, I'M NOT", he tried to defend himself, without pointing out the irony of the driver's voice combined with his sentence.

"So tell me the truth."

"Fine. But please don't tell this to anyone, I'm serious. Everything I'm going to tell you is confidential."

"My lips are sealed", he swore.

"Here goes. I was framed for a crime that I didn't commit."

Interested, the driver hoped he could get to hear more of his story.

"How were you framed?" he inquired, with more curiosity.

"I don't know, I was living a peaceful life back in my hometown, and then, a mysterious character called me to go to the mayor's house. When I did, I was in shock to see the mayor dead body in front of me. He was assassinated with my own kunai, even though I don't remember using it on him. The crowd noticed it, and they took the blame on me. I've tried to defend myself; however, they refute everything I've said, due to my lack of evidence. Even the local police wanted to arrest me and sentence me to death. Therefore, I am a fugitive ever since. I don't think I could stay invisible for life as people will eventually find me out. So the best thing I could do is running away from there."

"Ah. You may try to run, but you can't hide forever. Would you rather keep your reputation soiled? The only way to get out of this situation is to clear up your name. But since you are currently out of town, it'll be impossible for you to resolve that crime you didn't commit in the first place."

"Which is why I collected all the clues I could gather and put them all inside this suitcase."

The chameleon picked up the said suitcase that was lying underneath his seat.

"With these, I'll be able to connect the dots and learn more about the miscreant who framed me. And once I succeed, I'll return to my hometown and bust them to my people. However, I need to find a place where no one will ever find me."

"I think I know a place where you can hide. A city that no one would dare to live in."

"Really, wherever it is, get me there."

"Are you sure? That city is dangerous. Not only it's dirty, impoverished and partially inhabited, but it is said to be crime-driven as well. The one who controls, or rather terrorizes, the town is said to be a giant menacing gang leader, along with the rest of his thug minions. Rumors said that anyone who crossed his path was dragged into his lair so they could get eaten alive. Some people said that the ones who didn't get eaten alive died in a horrible manner from broken bones."

"I don't care, as long as I can keep myself from anyone's sight, everything should be fine. Besides, I won't stay there for too long."

"The decision is yours", the driver shrugged off a bit.

After a while, the car finally arrived to their destination, which was near a strange town.

"There we are. Central city."

"Central City. I have heard of that city's name once, but I hardly knew anything about it at all."

"Well, you better thank me for finding the place you've never heard before. Although, you need to be careful if you want to live here, even for a short amount of time."

"I'll do my best."

The purple chameleon picked up his black suitcase before he closed the door behind. While the cab drove away in the horizon, the mobian contemplated the city from far away. Considering that unnamed driver's statements could be true, he felt unsure about getting inside. However, he knew that he'll need a place to sleep, eat and hide, eventually. He breathed in before he walked toward the big city. Inside, he could see big old and cracked buildings everywhere, the streets were almost deserted save for a few passersby who appeared worried about our newcomer. He decided to ignore them anyway and tried to find a place to lodge in. After many search, he finally ended up to a building with dull red bricks and tall fences surrounding it. He went to the gate and pushed on one of the intercom's big red buttons.

"Hello?"

A voice can be heard from the speaker.

"Hi, I wish to rent an apartment", he requested, a bit nervous.

"Who are you?" it inquired.

"Just a new guy who hopes he could find a place to study alone", he lied.

"Are you sure? You need to pay the rent monthly if you want to stay here, or else you'll be evicted."

He felt slightly disappointed by this, however, he is determined to stay somewhere for a while and resolve his own case.

"I'll make sure to pay it."

"In that case, I let you in. Meet me in the secretary office."

The gate unlocked by itself. The chameleon went inside the building. He tried to find the said secretary office, and found it. Once he entered inside, he noticed a female lynx sitting in front of her office. She seemed busy browsing through her paper works. She stopped her browsing when she noticed someone in her room.

"Ha, you must be the one who wants to live here", she welcomed him warmly, "please you may come inside and pick yourself a key for your apartment."

She pointed the said keys on a wooden board near her desk. After he took notice on each of those keys, the purple reptile realized that deciding on a key was harder than it seemed. Basically, he had so many choices for a room to live in, yet he knew that if he picked the wrong one out of accident, he would be living in a messy and broken room as long as he could stay. When he was about to take his final key-

"Hey, Nicole."

He was interrupted by a masculine voice. He turned around to see a blue hedgehog standing near the entrance, holding a key.

"Sonic, what's going on?", the receptionist, known as Nicole, said a bit surprised.

"It's been months since the last time I have seen my neighbor. And she left her key behind by accident. I've been waiting for her to get them back, but she never did. I was starting to think that she really ran away, and that she has no plan to return. I was thinking whether I should keep this key or giving it back to you. And besides, I'm done paying the monthly rent TWICE."

The blue hedgehog, Sonic, saw the chameleon in the room and greeted him.

"Oh, hey, I didn't see you there."

"Nice to meet you", he greeted back, "I am new here and I wish to rent an apartment to study."

"With that suitcase?" he pointed out, curious.

"D-don't pay any attention to this", he held his suitcase tight in his arms, distressed. He didn't want anyone to learn about his recent framing.

"Sorry. But since you want a room to live in, how about I lend you my neighbor's key. I doubt she'll ever come back."

He hesitated.

"Don't worry; last time I checked, there are still food and water supply in the fridge. You won't have to restock it with your own money."

The hedgehog had a point; being low on money, at least he wouldn't have to buy with all that he had left. The chameleon took the key from his hand before exiting the office.

"Good choice", Nicole doesn't know whether she should complement him or not.

* * *

After they walked through the hallway of the fourth floor, they arrived to a white numbered door, which was next to another white numbered door.

"Here we are, your new home", Sonic presented. "Well, my former neighbor's home is like a new home to you anyway, get it?"

"Wait, where was the previous owner again?", Espio asked, still perplexed.

"I dunno, last time I saw her was when she ran away while no one was watching. I don't know why you're still worried; I promise she won't come back."

He opened the door, giving him a first look of the inside. The apartment wallpaper was pink with heart shapes and flowers on it, and the main room was decorated with girly furniture and decorations. Clearly, no one would take him seriously if he were to live here.

"So, what do you think", he tried to lighten his newcomer up.

"Clearly, this isn't my style", he responded with a hint of sarcasm.

"Well, be happy you have a place to live, just get use to it."

Before he leaves to his apartment next to the chameleon's, he turned around and added:"Oh, by the way, my name's Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog."

"Hi, my name is Espio the Chameleon", he presented himself.

"Hey Espio, I have the feeling we will become best friends."

He smiled before he went inside his apartment. Espio did the same, as he went inside his own apartment as well. After he made sure to lock the door behind he put his mysterious suitcase on the floor and opened it. It was full of "peculiar" objects. He took out the pictures out of it and began to examine it. He then took a cord from the pink wooden table and attached each ends on a dresser and around a door handle from a small wooden closet and hung pictures in it, like wet clothes hanging in a line wire.

"Mmh", he tried to resume what happened." When I was phoned by a stranger, they told me to break into the mayor's house. When I did, I saw that the mayor was murdered with my kunai in his room, (he took out the said kunai, placed inside a plastic bag) however, there were no finger prints on it. The murderer left a bullet behind (He took out said bullet that is also placed inside a plastic bag); they must have used it to shoot the bodyguard while he wasn't looking. Then, when the alarm went off, people from outside were curious and come to see what happened. When they did, they were in shock. I wanted to defend myself; sadly no one listened to me. To make matters worse, policemen came and thought I was the murderer. They were going to arrest me, but luckily for me, I activated my camouflage in the last minute and run away. I ran and hid myself inside the house, hoping they would just give up my search and run away. Hours have passed, and people are still around. I decided to make the people leave the house. I went to an empty room and used a conveniently placed brick and broke the window. People believed I ran away, they all got out and apparently ran after me. In the same room, I discovered a strange note written on a paper that had a spread sheet on it, with a specific date and the name "Ringleader" printed on it (He takes it out). For some reasons, the notes appeared invisible and impossible to read. I may gonna find a way to make it readable again. I took pictures of everything I could see with the help of the deceased mayor's instant picture camera. I had to get outside to gather some clues as well. However, I was shocked when I learnt I was wanted. The entire town wanted to hunt me down. Because of this, I had no choice but to leave it behind as discreetly as possible. I had to take all the clues and put them inside a suitcase I just found, before I started to run away. I called a taxi and went inside as soon as possible. Luckily, the driver somehow didn't turn against me, and was kind enough to drive me far away from the city."

After he's done with his recapitulation, he resumed to resolve his mystery. Hours had passed, and Espio couldn't take it anymore. Despite not going anywhere with his case, he wanted to lie down and rest. Though, he knew he had to resolve it before next month, or else he'll be unable to pay his rent, and he'll get evicted as a result. He looked at the time, out of curiosity.

 _24:35_

"That's it", he thought to himself, frustrated, "I can't take it anymore. The problem solving can wait, I need to sleep."

He went to the bathroom and took a hot shower. After that, he went to bed and closed his eyes. The chameleon fell asleep.

Meanwhile, a pair of purple eyes that lurked in the dark was observing our purple chameleon ever since he came into the town. Whoever they belonged to seemed interested in this newcomer.

"Interesting", he said to himself, "our boss will love to terrorize this new guy, that's for sure."

They left.


	2. Chapter 2

**Note: There's some rewrite from the original chapter that was originally posted in my DA account. I consider this one of my best chapters of this story. WARNING: This is one of the chapters that made the story M-rated in the first place.  
**

* * *

"Yawn."

Espio woke up. It was another day for him to try and finish resolving his case once and for all, while hoping for the best. He took a glance at the pink girly room, before he got out of bed. He took a glance at the pink and gold flowery patterns that adorned the bed in disgust.

"Ugh, this is embarrassing; I can't believe I've slept in this all this time."  
He left the room.

* * *

In the bathroom, the chameleon took a hot shower. He could feel the sweet, warm and wet jet of water hitting his purple scale. While he let the water sprinkle on him, he looked around the bathroom. It was pretty much like every other room of the apartment he ever put his feet in. The ceramic wall that surrounded him was a pale pink, decorated with flowers and butterflies patterns everywhere, the toilet he may or may not had used prior to his shower was pink, the curtains was pink, the floor was pink, even the sink was pink. After he's done showering, he turned down the shower and put his wet feet on the (pink) carpet lain on the floor, and used the towel that was placed on the toilet sit to dry himself (Guess what color is that towel). After that, he went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. However, he realized something when he opened the fridge. There was nothing left.

"Damn it", he cussed to himself, "the food supply is empty. I need to restock it!"  
After spending time in the apartment (that wasn't even his) for so long, he forgot to go outside for a walk. The chameleon was too busy trying to solve his own mystery he cut any contact from outside. He even shooed away his only form of socialization, his neighbor, every time he tried to pay visit to him. However, this means he was also emptying the food that the fridge could provide. It was only when he realized that it was empty that the chameleon needed to temporarily leave the case behind and focus on the grub and money. He took out his wallet from a dresser and counted the money.

"200 rings. Well, that should be enough for at least two entire month of groceries", he reassured to himself.

* * *

As he left his apartment, he saw Sonic coincidentally walking out his own. When he noticed him, he greeted him with the same old smile.

"Hi, Espio, long time no see. I haven't seen you for like 3 weeks or so."

Espio's heart stopped a bit. How long was he stuck inside his apartment again?!

"Y-yeah, studies can take off much of your time, and you need concentrations just for it", he tried to make up an explanation, while hiding his stutter.

"That's prodigious of you, I wish I was half as determined as you when it comes to those kind of works", he naively praised the (unknown to him) lying chameleon. "So, what are you doing, and what makes you finally quit your room for the first time?"

"I was going to buy some food, since I ran out of it. Don't worry; I should be back in a few hours."

"Oh cool. By the way, don't forget to pay the rent before tomorrow."

Espio's heart literally turned into a heavy weight. Realization started to light on his face, and then inside his brain, and heart, which turned into a small electroshock running across his purple body afterward. The rent, he forgot he could stay here as long as he could pay the monthly rent! The cost wouldn't be too bad, right?

"Well, hopefully, I have the budget to pay the food and the rent. What is the cost of the rent, by the way?"

"Huh, the rent here usually cost around 75 to 150 rings or something. However, for this month, we need to pay 200 rings, since they need the extra money for maintenance works."

"200 rings!?" his jaw dropped."But that's the exact amount I have on me, and I need it to buy food!"

"Well, if you don't want to get evicted or starve to death, which is quite the dilemma you got there, pal, just find a job, it will keep you pay both your rent and your groceries."

"Thank you, I guess it's time for me to get a job."

He left.

* * *

"That'll be 50 rings, sir."

Espio gave the exact amount to the female cashier.  
The chameleon then left the store holding two big, heavy and fully loaded paper bags in his arms.

He sighed.

"I lost 50 rings for this month's groceries. I need to find a job to get back those 50 rings, but first, I need to leave those bags in my apartment."

As he walked toward the red building, a little kid bee was spying on our purple passerby.

"Look at the amount of food he bought. This guy definitely has money."

He flew toward our hero.

Back to the said hero, he didn't know there was a spy lurking behind him. He finally did when the kid knocked him (much to his surprise and anger) and buzzed away as fast as possible. Perplexed, he resumed his walk.

"That was weird."

He then put his bags down to check out his wallet. To his shock, he couldn't find anything. He tried and tried once again to find the most important thing he brought with him outside, besides his key. He gave up when he realized he lost it.

"H-how? It was there when I got out, and then, all of a sudden, I lost it! Wait..."

He began to think back about the little bee who knocked him for some reason. He slowly put two and two together.

"That damn bee!" he thought to himself, "he must have knocked me so he could steal my wallet and take all the money I have."

He ran despite having to hold two heavy bags as he tried to follow the same path the small bee took. He slowly remembered that the insect went to the alley to the left corner of the street.

When he arrived to the alley, he made sure to hide his grocery bags inside an abandoned box found near a dumpster before he proceeded to render himself invisible. He walked toward the dead end alley, where he saw the same black and yellow troublemaker who sported in an orange jacket. He appeared to be surrounded by other kids of his age. Among them, there was another bee , a yellow squirrel and a cream-colored rabbit . They seemed fixated by the wallet that their friend was holding before them. Unknown to the kids, the chameleon was spying on them.

"Phew! Can you imagine how hard is it to find a person with money?" the bee bragged to his friends. "Lucky for me, I've come and touch the jackpot."

He took out all the money he could gather inside the recently stolen wallet and counted them one by one.

"150 rings. We're gonna buy lots of candy, that's for sure!"

"Charmy, we need the money to buy actual food, like meat, fruits, bread, vegetable and whatnot, we can't pig on candy forever", the rabbit pointed out, without being rude.

"S-she has a point. W-we aren't the only k-kids in the orphanage a-after all", the squirrel agreed, "a-and what's worse is that the orphanage is currently in debt. I-It's really a shame, b-because t-they are so low on money t-that they couldn't even afford to t-take care of us."

"And not to mention, we would get sick from eating too much sweets", she added.

"Aw." The bee uttered his disappointment, "I wanted to try that new candy from the candyshop."

"Don't worry Charmy", the blonde bee reassured, "we will figure out something once we're done buying those foods. Then, we could buy that candy you wanted to try if we had enough money left."

"Sounds like a plan. Let's see what we can buy with the money, I'm starving now."

After hearing their conversation, Espio's angry expression gradually became a pitiful one. Those kids were poor and even their own caretakers from their own orphanage didn't bother to take care of them, which led them to steal for survival. The chameleon almost felt like he should let him slide with his money... however, the pity stopped when he remembered the reason why he needed the money for himself. Determined, he walked toward the bee, still invisible, and took out the wallet, as well as the money, from the bug's hands.

"You little brat. This is mine!"

"Gah! A ghost!" Charmy didn't know what just happened.

The peers screamed in horror as well when they saw the wallet floating in the air and voice coming from nowhere. They just witnessed a ghost!

But then, Espio turned visible again, he glared at them before he counted the money. He sighed in relieve that he didn't lost a single ring.  
The small bee recognized him and prostrated before him, in tears and desperation.

"Sorrysorrymister,butwewerehungryandtheorphanageweren'tabletotakecareofussowehavetostealforlivingsorrysorrysorry!"

Espio was about to leave them behind, but something made him stopped a bit. That kid was truly desperate to live his own life, and now that he was depriving him of his bounty, and therefore, food, he couldn't help but feel guilty about it. He felt like having a huge weight that was stuck inside his heart growing exponentially, which it would drag him into the solid ground. He turned back toward the kid.

Charmy cowered in fear, thinking he would receive a punishment for his unlikable deed. To his surprise, he gave him 20 rings instead. The bee was astounded by this unexpected selfless act. Did he really mean it? Why did he have a change of heart that all of a sudden?

"Here, take this."

Charmy stood still, dumbfounded.

"Well, will you take it or not?"

Without hesitation, Charmy took it.

"Wow, thank you mister. No one ever did such an act of kindness to us. By the way, why did you do that?"

"Well, you mentioned that your orphanage couldn't take care of you, right? And besides, if I don't help you, I'll feel guilty for the rest of my life. However, it won't excuse me for wasting my money before rent day."

"What do you mean?"

"You see, I am presently living inside an apartment, and each month, I have to pay a sum in order to keep living there, or else they'll evict me, and if they do, I won't have anywhere to live and as a result. That said I would have to move somewhere else and start a new life."

"What does evict mean?"

"It means get kicked out of your house."

"Gasp, but that's horrible. We are starting to like you. You can't move out like that!"

"Which is why I have to find a job that pays. And I have to do it fast. The rent day is tomorrow."

"I think I found a great job for you, mister. Follow me."

Espio obeyed.

* * *

Not far away from the alleyway, they found a cafe across the street.

"So, that's the job you were talking about?"

"Exactly, that's where me and my gang hang out together every day." He grinned, "the food here tasted delicious and lots of people go there to eat. I'm sure you'll gain a lot of money in no time. Well, not sure how much you must pay for your rent."

"Well, I've spent 50 rings on the grocery, and now that I gave you 20 rings, I believe I'll need at least 70 rings if I don't want to move out."

"70 rings? Well, I'm gonna make sure you'll never get out of this town, ever, and you can count me in. By the way, what's your name, mister?"

"I'm Espio. Espio the Chameleon."

"Hi Espio, I'm Charmy Bee."

The bee flew away.

Espio breathed in and out before he headed toward the cafe. A nervous chill developed within his heart before it went across his stomach rapidly. He couldn't do it, he thought. Like against his will, he hesitantly lifted his hand and put it on the cold and silvery grey door handle. He grasped it firmly and...

It didn't budge.

To his surprise, the chameleon retried to open it several time, and nothing happened. On the other side of the glass door, he could see a brown squirrel washing the glass. Espio presumed she was an employee or the manager of this coffee bar. When she saw a purple chameleon staring at her by the transparent door, she pointed at the schedule list glued on the glass. Espio took a look:

 **Rainbow Cafe**

 **Monday ~ 11:00 - 23:00  
Tuesday ~ Closed  
Wednesday ~ 11:00 - 23:00  
Tuesday ~ 11:00 - 23:00  
Friday ~ 11:00 - 23:00  
Saturday ~ 8:00 – 17:00  
Sunday ~ 8:00 – 17:00**

Then Espio took a look down, a familiar red sign with white edge with the word CLOSED written in it.

"We're not open yet", the squirrel explained, a bit muffled due to the closed doors, "please come back later."

"I'm here for an appointment; I wish to get a job here."

"We will talk about that later."

"But, it's an emergency; I need at least 70 rings or else I'll face an eviction, and I'll do anything to avoid that. Heck, I'll even do extra works and night shift if this establishment allowed us to."

"Come back here at 11 o'clock and we'll see about that."

Espio looked at his watch before he put his hand down.

"Well, if you said so. I guess that'll leave me more time to get my grocery bags back."

He ran away, leaving the place behind.

* * *

Back to his apartment, Espio was placing the food he bought inside the empty fridge. When he was done, he went back to the door and exited his home.

 **Bang!**

He closed the door behind him a bit abruptly. Unknown to him, a piece of paper dropped from the table and landed on the hot pink rug, right in front of the entry door.

* * *

It was dark.

Espio was walking in the street, the cold and darkness surrounding him. Only a few lights from streetlights could shine (or sometimes, flicker) through this unsettling darkness that enveloped the partially ruined and fissured city. It also made the lone chameleon felt a little safe. However, he didn't worry. Indeed, after a long day of working in the Rainbow Cafe for the first time, he came out completely exhausted, yet satisfied that he gained his 70 rings. For his first day at his new job, he diligently overworked himself, from cashier to sweeping the floor, and he even worked during his pauses! As gruelling as it may seem, this came out with a great reward; he was now able to pay his rent. Out of exhaustion, he was heading, or rather trudging, toward his home, his heavy eyelids half-closed, his body bent over and his brain half-functioned. All he cared was to go back home as soon as possible and slip inside his comfy bed.

 **"!"**

Then, something made him react despite being tired; he remembered that the driver told him about the city being crime-driven and thugs terrorizing the streets.

"What is he talking about", he tried to restore confidence in himself while in his half asleep state, "I never met a single criminal ever since I came here, and the only crime committed on me was that bee who stole my money, but he wasn't so bad. I think he must have exaggerated a bit."

 **THUD!**

He suddenly felt something knocking him out cold on the head with a herculean force. He fainted from the impact, not knowing what hit him. A black silhouette stared at the fainting chameleon before they dragged him away.

* * *

" _Boss, we found you another fresh meat."_

"Ah, good."

The chameleon woke up, his vision a bit blurry, and his head still in pain from the previous concussion. Holding his forehead, he looked around, a bit confused.

"Ugh, what just happened? Where am I?"

He recoiled from the bad smell in the air all of a sudden. Wherever this place he was in smelled horrible!

"Sorry fer the smell of this place, but it cannot be helped."

The chameleon started in shock. The voice that made him jumped sounded masculine and had a weird accent as well. He wanted to run away, but then, two red mobians were holding him by his arms. He was held prisoner as he was forced to watch the silhouette staring at him with two glowing eyes from the darkness. The chameleon remembered everything about the whole criminal warning and assumed that this very same silhouette was the criminal leader who terrorized the city (according to the driver, anyway).

The chameleon gathered his courage and voiced his bravado at his possible assailant.

"If yeh insist." The silhouette walked out of the darkness to reveal a giant green crocodile who wore a pair of black earphone on his head and a golden chain around his neck. "Man, I'd never think ya could be the stubborn type."

His courage dissipated abruptly (and replaced by fear) when he saw the crocodile's appearance for the first time. He expected the rumored leader to be intimidating, but not like this. This huge green reptile was wide, muscular and must be twice as tall as him. He also had a menacing look on his face and sharp teeth that could cut through metal. The crocodile approached, grabbed his chin with his huge fingers and forcibly tilted his head to his eyes level, which stared at him. The chameleon was frightened yet hypnotized at the same time by his menacing stare. His amber eyes met his vermillion eyes. Refined and slightly feminine face met rough and heavily masculine one. The crocodile appeared to examine his victim.

"Mmh, interesting", he commented as he moved his head around," of all victims yeh guys had found me, ya found another reptile. I haven't seen another one besides myself until now. I thought I was the only one in this town."

Unknown to him, he breathed on the smaller reptile's face due the proximity of his long and huge jaws to him. He shuddered in disgust when he felt his hot and putrid breath blowing on him inadvertently as he talked, but couldn't move at all, due to being held by the echidna and the armadillo, not to mention the crocodile was still holding his face near his, preventing his head to even jerk.

"He's a little scrawny to my taste, just flesh and bones no doubt, however, he does look and smell exotic, and rather handsome-looking too. I don't mind trying him tonight."

The crocodile gave the chameleon a sly look, which didn't sit well with the latter.

Then, without warning, the bigger reptile licked sloppily the smaller one. He shuddered violently and groaned in fear and disgust as he could sense the heat and moistness of the sleek and massive pink tongue leaving a huge trail of reeking saliva that extended from his neck to his right cheek, eye and forehead, covering half of his face. It also dripped down to his body.

"Ugh", that was all he could say as his scale turned green and his expression was frozen from shock. Oh no, he didn't!

Knuckles ran toward a tunnel, the darkness seemly engulfing him as he went to the search of the said potion. Mighty, now all alone, was holding both of the prisoner's wrists. Espio vainly moved violently to escape. Despite being held by only one being, the armadillo was capable of holding him on his own even without the help of another guy. Espio used his feet, being his only free limbs, besides his curly tail, in order to kick the armadillo's legs and stomp on his feet while he was facing backward. Of course, it hurt the armadillo like hell, but he was still resilient on restraining the chameleon.

"Ow, boss, a little help here?"

The crocodile had obliged as he crouched down and restrained his legs.

"Now, be gentle and don't move", he ordered.

"Sorry for the wait, Vector."

The echidna finally (and unfortunately) came back from the dark and showed them a small vial made of transparent glass containing a mysterious red liquid inside.

"Shall we start?"

"Finally you're back; this horny savage is killing me!"

"Wait, what did you just called me?", the prisoner asked, offended.

"Whatever, make him drink the potion."

Knuckles headed toward the struggling chameleon and tried to put it inside the chameleon's mouth. The prisoner, hopeless at this point, moved his head back and forth while keeping his mouth shut. He stubbornly refused to drink whatever was inside that glass container.

"Damn it", the echidna swore, already frustrated, "he is more stubborn than I thought!"

"Here, let me help", Mighty offered.

He crushed his prisoner's wrists that he was still griping, hoping he could make him yelp, or at least open his mouth. Espio's tried his best to resist despite the horrible pain his poor wrists went through. The herculean strength of this one armadillo proved to be beyond his thought. He could feel his bone slowly crushed from the sheer force, it felt like a mix of burning and extreme pressure.

"Ow!"

The excruciating pain was too much for him to handle. He yelped in pain as a result. Sadly for him, this mean that Knuckles succeeded to put the potion inside his open mouth and forced him to drink it. He witnessed himself gulping down the weird liquid down into his throat. He was then released after the deed was done. He fell into the ground, spitting out the liquid he just drank, trying to get rid of its taste from his taste bud. Man, it tasted rancid! (Think about sock sweat mixed with cough syrup medicine, well that's what he just tasted)

His vision began to blur a bit, he started to feel woozy. He looked around and saw in his POV that everything was growing. He saw Vector advancing toward him, making himself visible to his visual field. Well, that is if he could even see him entirely from this close anyway. Espio knew he was gigantic when he first laid his eyes upon him. But now, he appeared to be a large tower to the small chameleon. Vector grinned and bent over to pick the shrunken reptile. The chameleon quickly stood up and took to his heels as fast as he could. Unfortunately, being shrunk mean that his speed was greatly reduced to a giant, and it wouldn't take long for Vector to finally catch him with his giant gloved claws. He lifted him by his tail toward his menacing crocodilian look. Espio looked away from it, not because he was terrified, but he was hoping that everything that happened to him right now was only a nightmare. He needed to wake up.

 **"Welcome to my territory, little stranger."**

Espio yelped at the booming voice as he covered his poor painful ears as fast as he could. However, he couldn't do anything against the giant putrid breath coming from his giant jaws that blew on his entire body like a giant fan. The smell almost made his stomach turned to a 180 degree, he thanked himself he didn't eat, or else it was going to be messy.

"W-what do you want for me?" He stuttered while trying to keep his composure, which proved to be difficult, especially when he was dangled many feet away from the ground by a gargantuan carnivorous reptile.

"Oh, nothing special. I need you. I need you to satisfy me."

"Satisfy you about what?" he inquired with curiosity. He shouldn't ask.

"See, I haven't eaten since this mornin' and it makes me mad when I'm hungry. Sure, I was thinkin' of headin' outside and eat at some diners, but I'm in the mood fer somethin' fresh and alive."

He stared at his tiny victim with a smirk as some drool seeped through the spiky teeth and dripped through his jaws (and he cleaned them up by licking them away). Espio gulped as he slowly got the hint.

"Y-you can't be serious. You disgusting monster, put me down this instant. I'm warning you, don't you even dare think about it, or else..."

"You're my dinner."

Those growling, deep-sounding words penetrated Espio's body like broken shards. He struggled and struggled, trying to get out of the giant's grip. Vector looked at his panicking prey in amusement. As he struggled in order to save his dear life, the crocodile proceeded to dangled him above his open jaws without mercy. The chameleon abruptly stopped and yelped as he looked down in complete terror the saliva-ridden jaws, which heavily covered the huge pink and glistening tongue; strings of saliva connected from the tongue to the palate, sharp tooth and even the dark gullet slowly, which broke and assimilated into the liquid below. The crocodile rotten scented breath blew onto his victim once again, which made him quiver. He'll never get used to that smell. Out of desperation, he tried to hold on the huge claw to avoid the fatal (and revolting) fall, which proved to be difficult since the giant was holding him by his tail and that his arm aren't long enough to reach them, let alone grab them. However, he knew that if he tried harder, he could at least grab the tissue of his gloved hand. With all his might, he used his weight and flexibility to swing himself toward the finger.

"Almost there. ALMOST THERE." The chameleon encouraged himself, concentrated on his task.

He could feel his hand getting nearer and nearer, which gave him hope he could get it. He was this close to get it, only one swing and...

Suddenly, he began to get farther from the fingers and gravity took him over. He realized that Vector released his grip and now, he was falling into the wide, salivating and eager jaw.

"Argh!" that was all he could scream out before he felt his face (then his entire body) splatted brusquely on the tongue, making a sickening sound in the process.

Surprisingly, his fall was cushioned due to the muscle's softness.

Then, as a reflex, Vector snapped his jaw shut when he felt the chameleon had landed on his tongue.

Espio was left inside in complete darkness. He could feel the rancid and humid air that filled the entire maw scorching his scales and filling his nostril. The chameleon panicked. Bad enough he was stuck inside this wet and smelly torture chamber, but he was stuck inside a tight place.

"T-this isn't happening!" he wanted to shout out of dread. "It must be a nightmare! Wake up, Espio, wake up!"

However, while he was distracted, the long and wide tongue shifted and rolled around him like a burrito, coating his already wet scales

 _ARGH! I'M NOT DREAMING!_

The chameleon kicked, punched and struggle his way out of the colossal wrapping tongue. It finally released him out of its hold. But before he could relieve himself, he cried as it started to move up and down, he whirled accross the cavernous mouth, warm saliva sloshing all over him. It soaked his purple and black shoes and his white gloves, and filled inside his mouth and nostril.

 _Kof! Kof! Ugh. Argh!_

He accidentally took a mouthful of the sticky substance and spat it out as soon as possible. The awful taste of the crocodile's saliva hit his taste bud, which made him wish to switch his own tongue for a new one. If the stench of the breath and saliva was bad, the taste of it was even worse. It tasted like salt mixed on a rotten meat. Espio almost hurled in complete disgust, but couldn't do it since he was already drowning inside what felt like a big and elongated organic washing machine with no breathable air, dry place or even light.

"Aah!"

Espio let out a cry of pain as he felt several big pointy objects piercing his soft purple scale, making it spilled some blood in the process. It didn't take him long enough to realize that it was Vector's sharp teeth, who threatened to chew him.

Vector let out a happy murmur. He never thought the chameleon could taste this sweet. He ignored the struggle and hopelessness of the captive as he sucked on his body, savoring him. He licked and licked every inch on his scale, feeling his breath and squirming. He was glad to live. (Or rather skip his dinner)

Alas, we couldn't say the same with the chameleon. After he avoided the teeth, he slipped and fell into the floor of mouth, splashing in the shallow pool, as the tongue began to painfully grind his body, like soft sandpaper grinding a piece of wood. With all of his strength, he tried to ward off the pink appendage off him, which proved to be extremely difficult. After a while of enduring his seemly endless torture, Espio was sprawling over the tongue, panting, he was now out of strength, breath or even courage to do anything against the seemly unbeatable blasted reptile. Yet, he knew that his remaining bit of courage wasn't completely gone; he needed to remain resourceful like he was. He didn't flee to this town and hide in order to become someone else lunch, all he wanted was to resolve his case and return to his hometown once he was done. He wanted to catch the villain who left him into this mess and live a (sort of) happy ending. He delved his right hand into the black and silver compartment around his left now sticky wrist, seemly taking something from it.

"I hope this will work", he thought with a glimpse of hope.

Outside, Vector was eager to finish his light snack before going to bed.

"Aw man, this sucks", he thought, disappointed."I'm tired and I don't wanna swallow mah food right now. Oh well, there's plenty of people I can eat tomorrow. I can live with that."

He tilted his head and swall-

"OW!"

He felt scorching pain on his tongue. It only got worse and worse.  
Inside, Espio was using his kunai to stab the soft tongue, making it bleed. He even threw several shuriken toward the throat; some of them even hit the uvula.

"I tasted good, right?" he taunted as he attacked continually the inside of his maw. "How about some spice to go along this morsel, you like your food extra spicy, right?"

It was cheesy, he knows.

"ARGH!"

The pain got him so bad that he had no choice but to spat his food out. The chameleon flew out of the jaw at the speed of sound as he crashed painfully on the ground, rolling over like a barrel and had his head landed on the puddle of the remaining potion. He grew back to his original size as soon as he drank it by accident. The animal, now all sticky and in his original size, tried to recover himself and his rugged breath. The crocodile didn't show mercy toward him, however. Indeed, after he made some cut on his tongue (making it bleed in the process) and hurt his throat, his heart and brain burst in anger, followed by his white eyes becoming red and bloodshot. It was clear that this chameleon's gonna pay hard!

"Mighty. Knuckles. Let's seize him!"

The two henchmen obeyed.

 _YIKES_

Espio had only one idea going inside his mind.

 _RUN!_

He rushed through the dark tunnel that Knuckles took before and disappeared in the complete obscurity. When he got out from the other end, he immediately braked and teetered when he almost fell into a sewer system down below. He was glad he didn't tumble down, or else he was going to be very messy. (Even though he was already messy)  
"C'me back here, ya little bastard!"  
Espio turned around to see that the raging crocodile was chasing him like an angry bull. He turned invisible out of reflex and walked out of the way. Vector didn't expected that to happen and, unfortunately for him, couldn't stop his sprinting as he accidentally ran out of the edge and fell into the sewer river screaming, where he plunged into the murky water. Espio was looking at his misfortune with a smirk. Good riddance, he thought.

"He should be here. I just know."

Sadly for our hero, he would have to snap back to reality and get rid of the goonies. He ran away and saw a nearby ladder.

"An exit!" he exclaimed triumphantly.

He was about to climb out when he saw the red minions seemly tailing after him.

"He went here, and it seems like he is about to escape!"

 _WHAT? Impossible. How can they see him when I'm invisible?_

His question was soon answered when he saw a trail of wet footprints that followed him on the sewer's already humid border.

 _OH CHAOS! I completely forgot that I'm all wet and sticky!_

Espio mentally facepalmed for his stupidity. He can render himself invisible, but not his footprints. And because he was dripping with Vector's saliva, any trace he left behind betrayed him, and made him easier to find. He quickly got out of the manhole and put back the heavy bronze lid on the open hole. After that, he ran away as fast as he could.

"The crocodile's minions will get out of the hole in a moment", he thought nervously as he ran, "and there's no way for me to hide now that I leave wet footprints behind. If I go back home, they'll find me. What am I going to do?"

He looked at the trail of footprints he left behind and looked back at his drenched gloves. An idea formed inside his head.

Meanwhile, Mighty and Knuckles got out of the manhole. The two began their search.

"Give up, chameleon, you have nowhere to run, especially with the sloppy footprint you've left behind", Knuckles tried to communicate with the hidden chameleon as he followed said footprints.

"Yeah, we didn't want to hurt you, we were just following our boss' orders", Mighty wanted to comfort him.

"Mighty, stop, you're ruining Vector's reputation", he whispered/grounded his fellow friend.

"Sorry."

The two followed the trail. They advanced toward the crossroad before they turned right. When they thought they were about to find him, something unexpected stopped them on their track: the entire road was covered in footprints and handprints. They were in different directions; it was like the movement of someone who got drunk and staggered everywhere akin to a cyclone. Finding him was much more confusing now.

Of course, the echidna punched the cement road to take out his frustration, causing a mini earthquake and a dented road in the process.

"Please Knuckles, calm down" Mighty pleaded to his hot-tempered echidna friend, "just let him be. It's not worth to chase him down like that. I'm pretty sure he'll come back tomorrow, and if he did, Vector will do his job and get rid of him by himself."

"I guess you're right", Knuckles was finally convinced.

"How about we go to a diner and eat, I'm a bit hungry."

"Alright, that is if we can find one that isn't closed by now."

The two turned on their heel as if they gave up their search. When they were finally out of sight, the chameleon broke out his camouflage, making himself visible again. He climbed on a wall and he stuck there all along in order to avoid detection.

"Sigh, that was close. Now, it's the best opportunity to go back home."

He turned invisible again and climbed on the top of the building where he ran and jumped across every buildings until he reached his.

* * *

Espio finally made it to his building. He went inside; the cold breeze froze his soaked scales and penetrated into his flesh, then made it through his fragile bones. He slogged, teeth clattering, trying to get some warm while crossing his arms. He was relieved when he realized that his apartment was only several feet apart. Sonic came back from his nocturnal stroll not too long ago and was about to open his door, when he saw Espio. He happily welcomed him back.

"Hey Esp..."

Suddenly, he recoiled as he pinched his nose; the disgusting smell entered his nostrils and made his eyes watered a bit.

"Ugh, what happened to you? Why are you all wet? And what's that horrible smell?"

Espio said nothing; he refused to tell his neighbor the unbelievable and humiliating "sticky" situation he went through. He entered his apartment, took out his drenched shoes and gloves, having one thing in mind he wanted once he was home: to take a scorching bath.

* * *

One bath wasn't enough for the chameleon. In fact, he had to take at least three just to get rid of that horrible stench. Sadly for him, the bath wasn't exactly an efficient therapy to get rid of his horrible experience inside of Vector's mouth. Images of him getting violently assaulted by his tongue will forever haunt his nightmares.

He looked at the time:

 _23:14_

"Well, I didn't expect to be back this early. I guess there's time for me to wash my shoes and gloves."

He took out the kunai and shuriken out of his compartment, which happened to be covered in drool and dripping from it as well.

"Ugh, I'm not sure how long it's gonna take me to clean those."

He was about to wash his shoes when Espio noticed something under its sole. He took it out like a sticker and realized it was the "Ringleader" paper from one of his clues he found that he unknowingly stepped on it while he came back home.

 _Oh NO!_

He frantically tried to clean up the drooly side of the paper (which is also the blank side of the paper), not wanting to have one of his only clues and hope to get out of this nightmare ruined. Suddenly, something strange began to happen. He noticed that when he was done wiping out the liquid, he noticed a note appearing. The letters were written in red and were handwritten by someone.

The Chameleon read it out loud.

 _ **Please, meet me at six o'clock. I have a mission for you. Help me defame the blasted chameleon and then get rid of him. I'll reward you handsomely in return. -Signed ANONYMOUS**_

Espio grasped the paper firmly, devastated and mad. Someone must have planned to frame the unfortunate chameleon and kill him afterward. Whoever the vile character did this deserve more than being reported to the authority and incarcerated afterward. In fact, they deserved to die! Espio then tried to calm down and headed to the bathroom to wash his clothing and weapons.

After an entire month of trying to shed some light in his case, he finally did it. Only 98% more to go…


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi, I'm just gonna say this chapter received no rewrite unlike previous ones, so enjoy. Also, I'm thinking of writing two new one-shots, what do you think?**

* * *

"Gah! Get it off! GET IT OFF!"

Espio woke up in complete terror. He was sweating a waterfall and breathing with lungs stuck by corks. He made another nightmare about him getting attacked by that giant tongue.  
It's just a dream, a horrible, disgusting dream.  
However, it didn't really help for the fact that he dreamed about it three times in a row last night, which kept him from getting some proper sleep.  
Now, he tried to relieve himself with positive thought as his breath began to slowly return to its regular rhythm. He breathed in, breathed out. Breath in, breath out.

"Well, that wasn't so bad."

 _ **DRIIIING!**_

The sound of the doorbell almost made the chameleon jumped out of his bed. He looked at himself and felt discomforted by the fact he was still in his nightwear, or rather nothing at all, since he usually slept naked, with no gloves or shoes on. He prepared himself in a hurry as he tried to brush his teeth, dissipating the morning breath away, washed his face and wore his gloves and shoes at the same time.

 _ **KNOCK KNOCK!**_

The knocking began to get more eager.

"I'm coming! I'm coming!" Espio spoke as he rushed toward the door.

He opened it.

It was his landlord.

"Sir, it's time to pay the rent."

Espio's eyes widened a bit.

"Oh, the rent, I almost forgot. Hold on a second."

He rushed toward a dresser, about to take out and gave him those 200 rings from the wallet.

* * *

"I'm late! I'm late!"

Espio ran across the street. He had looked at the calendar as well as the time while he was paying his rent, and remembered that he had to go to work. One thing he cannot stand is being late. He knew bad consequences could happen when one is late. I mean, what good can happen if you're late.

"Hey!" "Watch it!"

In his rush, he accidentally bumped on some passerby. He wanted to say "sorry" to each of them, but he couldn't since that would cost him time to get to the cafe in time. Lucky for him, the cafe wasn't too far ahead. He looked at his watch.

"Pff, that's a relief." He thought, "if I keep running, I won't be considered late."

"Hey Espio!"

A child voice can be heard piercing through his ears. The chameleon turned around, and, what did he know, it was that bee. He appeared cheerful as he flew toward him, holding something behind his back.

"Charmy? What is it?"

"I want to give you something."

"Can it be done later? I'm kinda late right now."

"I said now."

Espio sighed in annoyance.

"Close your eyes."

He obeyed.

"Now hold your hand toward me."

Once again, he obeyed. He felt something on it. Like some kind of envelope being deposed on his gloved palm. He decided to open his eye. Unsurprisingly to him, it WAS an envelope.

"An envelope? What is that for? "

"Open it."

He opened the envelope, revealing familiar looking tickets in it.  
"Wait. Are those rings?", he asked, dumbfounded.

"Pretty neat, huh? I stole them while they weren't watching."

"It's nice, but what am I supposed to do with that?"

"Well, since you have to pay the rent in order to stay here, I have to steal some money for you."

"It's nice, but I can't accept it. It's embarrassing and disgraceful to use money that I didn't earn, especially stolen money."

"...b-but."

"Please, keep it for yourself. You need the money more than I do. Besides, I found myself a steady job for it."

The reptile left the insect behind, resuming his way to the cafe.

* * *

"Espio, what happened to you? You looked terrible."

Sally examined her weary employee, his head bending toward the cash register and the  
eyelids heavy. He quickly snapped out of his doze.

"Uh what? Sorry, Sally, but I didn't sleep very well last night. I constantly had nightmares about something vile and disgusting. No matter how much I've tried to get over the images, it kept coming back, haunting my psyche."

"That must be horrible."

"You don't say. I promise myself to go to bed sooner tonight."

"By the way, what did you exactly dreamt last night?"

Espio was about to speak, but was quickly interrupted by the sound of the door opening.

He turned around and...

 _GASP!_

A familiar crocodile came inside the place. Espio hid behind the cash register, cowering a bit.

 _Great_ , he groaned, _of all places he has to go and eat, it has to be this one._

Sally, however, didn't understand his sudden behavior at all.

"What's wrong, Espio?"

"Whatever you do, don't expose me to him", he whispered/begged to his boss.

"Excuse me miss."

Sally turned around; the crocodile was already standing before her.

"Hi, what do you want, sir?"

"I'd like to have a bifteck, please."

"That'll be 12 rings, please."

The crocodile approached the cash register and peaked behind it. Of course, he noticed the chameleon. He managed to recognize him despite having his face hidden from the bigger reptile. He turned toward the manager and asked:

"Excuse me, lady. Who's that purple scaly chicken hiding behind the cash register?"

"Oh, that's my new employee. For some reason, he isn't in the mood to see you."

"Can yeh please send him to me so we can talk?"

"Well, huh. Sure, why not..."

 _Arg! Traitor!_

Sure, the chipmunk was facing toward the still curled up chameleon. She began to open her mouth.

"Espio, quit acting like a coward."

"I wasn't acting like a coward", he defended himself, deeply offended, "I was only trying to protect myself. There's a big difference."

"Look, I'm not sure what that crocodile has ever done to you, but he told me he wanted to see you. I can't deny the request, you know."

"Are you kidding? That guy is the origin of my nightmares from last night. He'd probably do the same thing again, and then I'll never be able to sleep again.'

"You are exaggerating."

"Trust me, I'm not. You don't want to know what this disgusting beast had done to me last night. But I can't tell you no matter how much I try, because if I do, you'll never take me seriously afterward."

"Just. See. Him. And. Have. A. Small. Chit-chat." She muttered to him word by word.

Espio muttered to himself, a little frustrated.

"By the way, take this plate to the client."

She handed to him the plate containing the bifteck. He sighed in defeat and walked toward the awaiting hungry costumer.

"Here's the plate sir", he put down the trail on the crocodile's table.

He drooled a little as he eyed his steamy, good-smelling meal. Espio was about to leave, but was prevented from Sally's glare. He decided to stay with the crocodile, who was eating his dinner like a pig. Chunks of meat flew out of the plate and landed on the clean table. Espio's expression of disgust took shape. After a while of awkward silent moment, he finally succeeded to utter a word, albeit reluctantly.

"Hey."

The crocodile looked at him, without saying a word.

"Sorry, for last night."

He swallowed his mouthful of meat and began to talk.

"Eh that's nothing, what's the matter with that anyway?"

"Well, the thing is, I had no choice, I didn't want to end up in your stomach and get digested in the process."

"What's the point of your reasoning anyway, you sound like every victim I had, ever. Even they never admitted the truth like you do."

"That's not the point. I already have a miserable life of my own. I am not from here, I think you knew that, I had to move out from my own town and start a new life here."

"Sounds sad, I'd give yeh that."

"Of course you'd say that", he commented while rolling his eyes," You lived here for years; folks around here must have respected you like a king, while you act like a tyrant. You wouldn't worry much yourself, right?"

"Actually, I do worry, a lot."

Interested, Espio opened his invisible ears.

"Wait, what?"

"See, I may be the most feared mobian in the city, but I have to keep my reputation in check for that. I have my two minions, who were also my best friends as well, to work for me."

"Uh-huh."

"I did horrible things, I admit. But I did it because I had no choice. I'm a lone croc and no ones like me."

Tears began to form in his eyes. They dripped down his green cheeks. Espio can't help but feel sad for him. However, despite his empathy, something wasn't right when the crocodile was crying, but he couldn't figure it out.

"And now, I can't eat my steak properly. I need you to get outside with me."

"But, I'm still working."

"It's fine" Sally assured him, "I'm allowing you to take a break now. After all, trying to get him better is more important."

"WHAT?" Espio exclaimed in disbelief.

"Thank you missy for letting me borrow this guy for an instant."

He then proceeded to grab him and forced him out the cafe.

* * *

Espio was struck against a solid brick wall, feeling an agonizing pain all over him in the process.

He was currently outside the cafe along with the crocodile. The bigger reptile didn't seem to forgive him about the whole event from yesterday. In fact, his anger only increased from what the chameleon remembered. Right now, he was holding him with both hands against the now dented wall. His intense glare made the poor chameleon gulped in fear.

"Gotcha now, ya little dipshit", he growled at his little prisoner. "Ya really think I'd forgive you for yesterday, didn't ya?"

"Well, I did believe that at first" Espio defended himself, trying his best to keep his collected manner, despite the hot breath tickling his face. "I can't believe I fell for that. Then again, I really shouldn't have listened to you in the first place."

"Well, yeh better, I'll never forgive you for hurting my tongue like that!"

"Wait what? All that beating for a tongue? Are you serious?" he demanded in disbelief.

"My tongue is actually pretty sensitive. Besides my face. Don't you realize how painful it was for me to even eat or drink?"

"Stop being a crybaby. I expected a fearsome gang leader, not a bully who behaves like a spoiled brat."

He spoke too much.

Now, all he could see was Vector's glare growing exponentially (showing dark circles underneath his eyes), if that wasn't enough for the chameleon's flesh and bones to melt away from his grasp, his already deep voice shifting to an even deeper and menacing tone certainly would.

"That's it", he growled, drools falling from his protruding jaw," no one, I mean NO ONE is allowed to insult me like that. Geddit?"

"What are you going to do? Punch me until you break every bones of my body just like you did to your previous victims that you didn't eat?" he quipped defiantly.

Vector paused a bit, a bit confused.

"Eh... I'm not sure what you're talking about, but I do kinda like that idea."

Now, it was Espio turn to be confused.

While he was sunk deep inside his thought, the crocodile raised his fist, about to punch him. The chameleon snapped out and struggled, but couldn't escape. He closed his eyes, praying that the beating won't be too painful.

"I'll pound yer little body until it turned into mince meat and then I'll eat it-!"

Out of nowhere, he stopped in the middle of the sentence, his infuriated expression turned into a painful one. He fainted, and he indirectly freed his target as well. The chameleon sighed in relief. That was a close one. He turned to his savior. It was Charmy Bee, standing behind a laid down crocodile. He seemed happy to see the chameleon again.

"Hey Espio."

Espio can't help but felt content about the bee presence. He could thank whoever-the-lord-of-this-world-is for that same bee who tried to steal him.

"Thanks for saving me, Charmy."

"No problem, but I wasn't here to save you in the first place."

"Go on."

"I need you. I need you to help me choose a jacket for me. I don't know how to choose, so I always end up buying both things at once. I think I may have contributed to the orphanage's debt", he admitted sheepish.

"Well, I'll help you. But better learn to pick one or the other, not both."

He rose up from the ground as he prepared to leave a paralyzed Vector behind.

"By the way, what have you done to him?"

"I stung him on the back. The venom has taken effect on him."

"Oh, is it fatal?"

"Nah, the effect only last for a while, he should be back in shape in an hour or two. I dunno."

Afterward, the chameleon and the bee left.

 _I don't understand. The driver told me Vector would break every bones of his victims' body if they were lucky not to get eaten. How come he is completely unaware of it? Mmh. Maybe he was lying on that statement?_


	4. Chapter 4

An old door opened while making a rusty **"creak!"** sound. A chameleon entered upon the dark room as he looked around it. It was an old abandoned basketball court. The rusty wooden floor was bleached over the time, covered in dust and broken wooden planks. Even the walls, ceiling and benches pretty much followed its fate. The damp and musty odor filled the inside, as if they were locked away until someone could be able to free from their prison. However, the chameleon didn't seem to mind it (in fact, he enjoyed the smell). With a paper bag in his right hand, he walked inside the room and sat on a nearby dusty bench. He buried his hand inside the bag and took out what seemed to be the content inside it. It was a delicious-looking blueberry muffin. Espio looked at it, eager to take a bite on the rich crispy golden-brownish texture of the baked dough. He moved the muffin toward his open mouth and-

 ***Crack!***

Espio immediately stopped thinking about his treat and was distracted by the sound of something broken.

"What the-?"

He rose up from his old wooden sit and tried to find the source of the noise. After a while of searching through the gym, he finally got to find what he wanted behind the other side of the room, behind the unstable-looking bleachers... And he wished not to. Behind those was a familiar green crocodile who seemed to kneel down the floor doing something. He turned around as fast as possible, about to take his leave.

"Oh hey you."

Espio stopped taking one more step. _Damn it!_ So much for leaving unnoticed.

"Oh hey, Vector, I didn't think you were bright enough to catch me from behind like that. What are you doing here anyway?"

"Oh, I was just trying to repair my broken walkman. (He shows him the said walkman) But I accidentally dropped my favorite CD in the process and it broke in two. (He shows him the said broken in half CD next to the said walkman). This thing is now beyond repair."

"Can you just buy another one?" he asked.

"I would love to, but I'm too busy repairing my walkman. I say, you go buy it for me. Luckily, there's a music shop across the street. Go in there and come back with a new CD of this (he gives him the split CD)."

"Huh, as much as I want to help, I'm sort of busy as well right now; I'm trying to eat my snack peacefully."

He explained as he took out the treat out of the paper bag, as if he wanted to show it to the crocodile. But then, without warning, a giant hand snatched it from his clutch.

"Hey!"

Vector examined every coin of the muffin.

"So, that's your snack? It looks yummy", he complimented, mouth watering from the sigh of it.

"Give it back!" Espio ordered, out of anger.

"Why do you get mad over a muffin? Can you just buy another one for like 4 rings or so?", he wondered.

"It's a gift from a new friend of mine", he sighed, "it is especially special to him due to the fact that it was the last dessert of his almost bankrupt orphanage. Ultimately, he decided to give it to me as a reward for helping him buy a jacket while helping him learn how to make decisions."

"Whatever, your snack looks delicious", he kept complimenting.

Espio's amber eyes slithered, his expression turned stone cold. He grabbed his golden chain necklace and tugged it hard so both of their reptilian eyes could meet.  
His snout was now touching his cold yellow horn.

"If you dare take a bit, I'll punch you in the face, and then I'll cut your tongue out of your jaws! Trust me, when I said something, I usually keep my promise."

He tightened his grip as his stare became more and more vicious, to the point it could pierce through a solid vase. For the first time, Vector felt and looked a bit fearful at the sight of the small yet mighty chameleon (which seems unlike him), which happened to be his previous victim as well. Despite this, he regained his posture and said:

"Fine, but I'll have to keep yer sweet anyway. Tell you what, let's make an exchange: ya go buy the disk, and I'll give it back. What do you think?"

"What if you broke your promise and eat it anyway?", he snapped while crossing both his arms, "I'll have you know that I refuse to trust someone who has tried to devour me in their first meeting!"

"I won't eat it, I promise!" he protested.

He made an "X" across his chest with his claw, signifying his promise. Espio sighed as he reluctantly had to trust this dubious crocodile. Not having a choice he decided to head toward the exit and buy a new CD. Before he went outside, he turned around and addressed to the bigger reptile:

"By the way, if you break your promise, I'll break your CD on the spot!"

He left.

Vector resumed fixing his slightly broken machine. However, he stopped a bit, realizing something.

"Uh, what was I supposed to warn him about again?"

_

Just after he bought the CD, Espio was rushing back to the old basket court. He was holding a colorful plastic CD case while he was sweating and breathing from aching lungs as he ran so fast.

"I hope he didn't eat the muffin", he said to himself, "if so, fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. Oh, forget it, why should I care, he'll do it anyway. There's no way for me to become friend with this so-called fearsome gang leader who terrorized this city. I wouldn't even touch him with a ten foot pole. "

When he finally arrived to his destination (the backdoor from an alleyway that lead inside an abandoned basketball court), he opened the backdoor, sighing. There goes nothing.  
Once inside, he checked around, like trying to find him. He checked every single corner and behind the benches, and for some reason, he wasn't present.

"Vector?"

No answer.

"VECTOR!"

His speech got louder and slowly more frantic than usual. Despite this, his franticness suddenly turned into anger and frustration.

"VECTOR! WHERE ARE YOU, YOU BLASTED OVERGROWN LIZARD! YOU BETTER NOT LEAVE THIS PLACE ON PURPOSE SO YOU CAN BREAK YOUR PROMISE AND EAT MY MUFFIN IN THE PROCESS, I'M WARNING YOU. YOU ARE DEATH! **DEATH!** "

His unusual loud scream resounded through the old gym, causing a small and extremely brief quake, which caused the old ceiling to crumble some dust.

A suspicious faint sound similar to metal can be heard through Espio's not visible ears. This somehow caught him by surprise. He looked around, not making a sound, trying to find the source of this noise.

"Well, this is pointless. I must have imagined something."

*````!**````!**````!**````!**````!**````!*

This time, he could actually hear it loud and clear. Espio's turned around, and his eyes widened as he saw what he thought could be the source of the sound, or rather "sources", since not one thing made it, but rather **many** many (emphasized on "many") of it.  
Before his eyes, he saw thousand and thousand of mechanical toxic spider crawling from holes that plagues specific places of the ancient gym before they infested almost the entire place and munched on everything they saw (old bench, dust, plarget) as they burn it with their own toxic acid. Even though Espio had no idea what those things were, he knew that he wouldn't mess with those things, especially when there was only one of him and thousand of them. His heart now racing like adrenaline, he had only one thought in his mind: to exit this place. Luckily for him, there was a door near him that wasn't infested or anything. He rushed toward it and proceeded to open it. To his shock and terror, it didn't open. Despite this, he did his best to force it, kicked it, punched it, alas, the door seemed like it was made with tough material such as titanium. Because he was distracted, the spiders slowly coming toward him, about to spray him with acid and then prey on him like a bunch of piranhas preying someone in their lake.

They're nearing…

*SWOOSH!*

Sounds of a flamethrower could be heard. And the heat. (Espio sniffed the air a little) And the smell of combustion.

The spiders seemed to take notice and crawled away as fast as they could. This situation has a good new and bad new however. The good new is that the room almost completely cleaned up of those pests, the bad new is…  
Flames appeared and grew bigger in the chameleon's POV, who backed up against the indestructible locked door, now trapped inside a burning building. He saw the responsible for it. It was Vector, who was breathing fire from his protruding jaws, like a dragon. It appeared that he was chasing off those hazardous things, which by itself is nice, but doing so caused the court to singe from the flame. Realizing he was stuck with him, he quickly turned around and tried to open the door behind him once more.  
"Please, please, don't leave me with this maniac!"  
He begged as he uselessly struggle against the door. During his distraction, the crocodile saw him and, now all of his attentions are toward him, he walked slowly toward the distressed reptile.

"Come on, come ON!"

He yelped in surprise as he felt being lifted up in the air. Then, a powerful punch destroyed the door like it was nothing. They walked outside. Meanwhile, the chameleon looked at his "savior". It was the same crocodile who had tried to eat him, threatened him to death, stole his muffin in exchange of forcing him to buy a CD, leaving him behind inside an old infested basketball court and even almost caused him to burn alive inside said old building. He did all those horrible things to him ever since they met, and now, he wanted to save him?

Vector looked at him with a spiky toothy grin, but the look made Espio want to punch his face even more. Despite this, he kept his cool while he asked him (albeit he was still dumbfounded):

"W-why did you do this to me?"

Vector put him down.

"Well first, if I let ya get killed, I will lose mah CD. You did bought mah CD, right?"

Espio subtle hopeful expression turned into an obvious blunt one. So much for this guy of having a heart. But he took out the CD from his back nonetheless.

"Yeah, I think this is the one you wanted."

"Gasp, mah fav CD!"

"But!" Espio hid the CD behind his back, "I won't give it to you until I have my muffin back. You promise."

Vector sighed.

"Fine", he took out the muffin from his back and handed it to Espio."There ya go. Happy?"

"Thank you."

He took his precious sweet and checked on it. Something's wrong with it.

"Vector, where's the other half."

He showed the crocodile his seemly half eaten food. Vector realized something.

"Please chameleon, let me explain."

"I don't need any explanation; you couldn't resist and ate a bit of my snack. You dirty liar. Not only you've tried to kill me but now you showed me how much of a deceiving person you are."

In his anger, he pulled his golden necklace toward him and punched him on the square of his jaws. Vector roared in pain and, becoming provoked, he charged toward our chameleon like a bull. Out of reflex, he jumped out of the way, landing on top of his green head. He covered his eyes, causing the croc to run into a brick wall (leavin a hole in it), Espio landed on the floor elegantly, only to get tripped by Vector when his huge tail swept under his feet. Espio fell hard on the ground in the process. Before he could get up, he choked as felt something heavy landing on him. Two giant hands held him down as a rough and intimidating face was looming over his. He could tell that he wasn't happy at all from the look of the injured face from the recent violent tussle and the heavy breathing from a foaming mouth. He looked like a feral beast now. His hot smelly breath hit his face and his saliva was dripping on him as well, and no matter how much he tried, he was unable to move. He was pinned down.

"Give up already", Vector's tried to reason to him, despite his feral expression.  
"I will never give up. You are despicable, and I'll never trust the likes of you", he yelled at him, still angry.

"You never give up don't ya, chameleon. You are small yet the most stubborn little guy I've ever stumble across."

"My name is Espio and **I'll NEVER GIVE UP**."

With only his head being able to move, he tried to charge his horn toward the jaw, but he barely avoided it as he clamped it down with his sharp teeth. Now, the chameleon can't move at all.

"Let me go, you pig!" he yelled at him, feeling hot saliva dripping from his mouth into his yellow horn.

" _Nut unhil ye' calm yershelf_." He commanded, his teeth still biting the yellow horn.

"How can I calm myself when you're holding me down like that? You're crushing me under your weight and you're forcing me near your jaw. Did you even brush your teeth?"

" _Trush me, I can do 'tat all day_."

Despite being strong-willed, he knew that he couldn't do much against this colossal reptile as he was held down by his weight, not to mention that he couldn't hold the content from his stomach any longer as he was drooling and breathing on him at the same time. There is one thing to do.

"Alright, I give up", he sighed in defeat," but please, let me go."

" _Apologize to me first_."

"What?"

" _I'll let you go once you apologize to me_ ", he promised to him.

Espio groaned, but knew it was for the best."

"I'm sorry for being a jerk to you, I didn't trust you, but I'm willing to give you a second chance. Now, will you please let me go? It's getting downright unbearable in this position."

"Apologize accepted", he smiled as he let his horn free and stood up from thim. Espio was relieved as he can breathe fresh air again and can move his limb again. He wiped the sticky liquid off his face, horn and neck.

"By the way, you forget this."

Espio turned around and, to his surprise, he was holding the other half of his muffin. Espio took out his own half and concluded:

"So, you never ate it."

He shook.

"How come you tore it in half to begin with?"

Vector began to explain.

"Well, while you were gone, I was looking at your muffin and I couldn't resist taking a bite on it."

Espio's expression turned blunt again. Of course he would do that.

"However", he added. "I just couldn't do it. The idea of eating someone else's food I just stole pained me so much. It reminded me of the horrible time before I moved here."

This statement caught the chameleon's attention.

"But I really REALLY wanted to eat your sweet. What can I do?"

Espio stepped forward a bit and put his hand on Vector's and, to the latter's surprise, he pushed it away, despite the fact that he demanded for it in the first place.

"You can keep it."

Vector was dumbstruck. Why didn't he want it anymore?

"Trust me, you can have the other half. Think of it as a share."

To his happiness, he quickly threw it inside his ravenous jaws, chewed it and swallowed it in the process.

"Thank you, chameleon. It was the best thing I've ever eat ", he thanked him rubbing his belly in pleasure.

"Please, call me Espio."

"Ok."

"Can we sit on that bench over here?", he pointed the said bench on the other side of the alleyway.

He obliged.

As they walked toward the old seat, Espio took back the CD and gave it to Vector.

"You forgot about this."

Vector took it as he took out his inseparable headphone and Walkman and showed it to him.

"Say, now that my Walkman is fixed, do you want to listen to my favorite music?"

"Huh, maybe later."

They eventually sat on the old stony bench. Espio looked at the bigger reptile, so did he, somewhat curious. It took him a while before he was able to break the ice.

"Tell me more about yourself", he demanded.


	5. Chapter 5

**This is a short chapter. Since there are people requesting me to continue this, I have to comply. I was busy with my personal projects, such as my comics, my fanarts, and even a new Pokemon-related comic. By the way, I have heard of the Sonic Forces news, and the fact that they announced the Chaotix first and foremost along with the main characters surprises me a lot.**

* * *

"So, you're not afraid that anyone would suspect you of being the fearsome gang leader that terrorizes their town all along?"

Vector and Espio are currently walking down the empty road. The two have been talking for a while; they have been walking out of their seat, then walked out the alleyway. Lucky for them, there was no one around who could have heard their conversation.

"Nah", Vector's nonchalantly reassured, "besides, if they do find out, they'll be no match for me."

"Fair enough", he commented, a bit uncertain. "With how you live under a sewer, it's a wonder people didn't put two and two together thanks to the stench. How do you live with yourself?"

"Oh, I've been _living with myself_ a long time ago." He started to explain. "Ever since I was abandoned by my parents, I was put in a foster home. People were afraid of me, due to the reputation of my species. I also made a few friends, one of them used to be the only one who understand me, but then he betrayed me and I was left in the dust. I've started to commit crime and terrorize everyone since then, until they arrested me. Even in jail, they are afraid of me. Luckily for me, my two faithful friends, Knuckles and Mighty helped me escape and we ran away together. We somehow found this city and started to terrorize it in secret."

"Is there anything more to it?" Espio asked, a bit curious. "It felt a little incomplete to me. It's like you left out some details of your life or something."

"Oh, you don't even know the half of it." Vector told back.

"What's the other half, then?"

"That's fer another day. Why don't you tell your own story and why you ended up here?"

"Very well. I was an only child from a ninja clan. I started to move away from my family so I could start a new life in the west and learn more about their lifestyle. However, ever since I moved there, everyone was flaking around me, due to my ninja heritage. I even gained some fangirls in the process. They thought I was _handsome_ due to my calm and collected attitude, even though I never saw myself as such, which surprises me a lot."

Vector stared at him, thinking.

 _They were right, you know, you are certainly handsome to me. Not to mention, you smell good, unlike anything I've smelled before._

Meanwhile, Espio kept his story going.

"I rejected all of my fangirls, one by one, and they were clearly disappointed or mad at me for that. One day, someone called me on the phone, asking me to go to the mayor's home. When I naively believe it, I saw his dead body lingering on the floor. I was so taken aback that I wasn't sure what to do. When everyone saw this, they thought I was the culprit and tried to arrest me and sentence me to death. I gathered the clues I could find and run away. The taxi driver told me about that city, so I decided to stay here for a while. As long as no one from that town can find me, I'm fine. I'm currently trying to resolve the mystery of the one who framed me. And I believe that I only barely scratched the surface. That means extra days of living in this impoverished city, working so I can pay my rent."

"Maybe," Vector snapped out of his thought and tried to help him a little, "that guy who framed you was a salty fangirl of yours who snapped and made her revenge."

This suggestion suddenly dawned on Espio. Of course, they could be among his suspects.

"For a brutish croc, you sure can come up with good ideas."

Espio ran away from Vector. He started to yell at him.

"Wait! Where are yeh going?"

"Home, so I can write down something. Thanks for sharing some information with me."

After Espio disappeared from the crocodile's eye vision, he sighed in disappointment.

"Man, I should have shared my music with him sooner."


	6. Chapter 6

**Originally, the** **chapter is NOT supposed to end like that, but I ultimately decided to do so, because I'm eager to post this chapter.**

* * *

"Boss, I'm finally done with the last table."

Espio sighed in relief as he let go of his whitish, now dirtied, blanket. Instead of taking care of the cash register, he was now in charge of cleaning the table. Not that it minded the reptile to begin with.

"Good, now you can take care of the trash."

His boss, while not paying attention to her employee, was pointing several sack of trash lingering on the ground. The sacks appeared to have flies flying all over it and visible smelly fumes reeked from its hole.

"And after that, you'll mop the floor."

She walked toward the employee's room, still reading her journal.

"It's gonna be a long day."

He started rubbing his own slightly aching back before he proceeded to take out the trash.

* * *

 _ ***thunk!***_

"There. It's my last one."

Espio cleaned up his hands as he turned around.

 _GASP!_

Something forced him to stop on his track. Before him, there was a hulking figure standing there, looking at him. Despite his initial reaction, his expression later turned into an unfazed one. It was like he was already accustomed by his presence.

"What do you want?" he asked with an annoyed sigh.

"I just want to-"

"Visit me? Why am I not surprise? You already pay visit for me in this restaurant for two months or so. Is there a single day where you can let me breath for a while?"

"Actually, I just wanted to ask you if we can go out tonight. Bro to bro."

"I'm too busy today. I have to go home to figure out some things. Maybe someday?"

"Aw. I have been waiting forever for this."

"Don't you have your red friends, or should I say _minions_?"

"They don't want to follow my boys night out activities."

"Well, poor you, I'm afraid that you'll have to go alone on your boys night out party. And sorry, I'll have to go, the floor won't mop itself."

Espio left.

Now that the crocodile is alone, his expression seemed to harden a bit.

* * *

"That's an interesting looking bullet."

Espio is currently inside his house, looking at the wrap that contains the same bullet that killed the mayor. For him, it was unlike anything he has ever seen (which doesn't say much, since ninjas don't use guns). Besides the dried up blood that covered the bullet, it appeared transparent, ice-like even, like if you dropped it, you wouldn't be able to find it so easily. Lucky for him, he wouldn't lose it so easily.

"Maybe there's a gun store in this town. Maybe the clerk would know about it."

He walked out.

Thankfully, after a long search, he found a gun store somewhere in the middle of a dirty merchant street. Walking through the place was a challenge, due to his feeling of meeting bandits that could be lurking around. Lucky for him, he found none. As he entered inside the shop, the shopkeeper quitted doing what she was doing before (looking at her collection of bullet) and proceeded to help this long-awaited client.

"Ah, finally a costumer. It's been thirty-six days without a single one of them", she said with a smile, eager to help him. "What can I do for you?"

"I'd like for you to identify this bullet, if possible" he answered while taking out a plastic bag that contained the said bullet.

The female echidna started to identify the object, thoughtfully.

"I think I know what bullet it's supposed to be. Follow me."

When he got inside the storage room, he couldn't help but notice lots of box stacking on each other, forming some sort of brownish-white mountains.

"Woah!" he could feel his foot hitting on a shorter box, almost tripping him on the dusty floor in the process.

"Look out for the boxes on the floor", the pink echidna warned, "I forgot to put them back while cleaning up".

Espio groaned a bit at her late warning.

She then stopped at a peculiar-looking white-bluish box, which appeared appealing when placed in the middle of the dustiness and ugliness of this storage room.

She opened it. Take a look inside.

"Bingo", she exclaimed, a bit victorious." I think I've found the bullet you were trying to look for."

Espio approached, now extremely curiosity.

"Is it this one you're looking for?"

The pink echidna showed him the bullet that she picked up from the box. To Espio's surprise, it looked just like the bullet he was holding. It looks like he found it.

* * *

"Well, that's interesting."

The shopkeeper was now searching in a heavy looking book some information about the bullet. When she finally found the page, she started to read it.

"It is said that this bullet happens to be dubbed as the _**Ice shard stinger**_. While the bullets are only usable on an exclusive gun named **Owl Shot** , it is, however, pretty popular among hitmen due to its quick, silent yet deadly shot. Also, its bullets melt when they come contact into the victim's skin, which makes it easy not to identify what killed them. Which, by the way, how did you get your hand on it? You know that it would melt if it even comes contact on someone's skin."

"I found it on the ground while I was investigating the mayor's home. But I still have my gloves on, so, it's no big deal."

"Did you know who killed him?"

"That's a question I wished to answer. I had no clue who killed him, but one thing for sure, that hitman, or hitwoman was working for someone else who wanted my skin."

"That's horrible."

"But don't worry, since I moved away, they shouldn't be able to find me that easily anyway."

"You have a point there."

"Besides, I'm pretty sure there are other places for them to go buy their special bullets and guns, am I right?"

"Actually, they had been discontinued a long time ago, due to overdemand. Not to mention the fact that the only chemical element that made those bullets had been overexploited to extinction. Even though they don't sell those anymore, my store is probably the only one who still has them. Which is why I sold them very expensively."

"So, are there any buyers of those bullets and/or the Owl Shot that came in this store?"

"Sorry, there are little to no costumers here, and if there was, they have no idea about it."

Espio was losing hope.

"However, (Espio slowly regains his hope) I did succeed to get "rid" of two boxes of Ice Shard Stinger. One of those boxes were stolen by someone else, while the other was legitly bought", she was explaining to the chameleon, who became curious about the last statement.

"Who's the buyer?" he asked, eager. "Can you give me his or her name?"

At this point, the woman had no choice but to tell him.


End file.
